Mars’ Plate Tectonics May Make Life More Likely

Mars’ Plate Tectonics May Make Life More Likely

As it turns out, Mars and Earth may be more similar than previously thought in one momentous way: Mars appears to have plate tectonics —giant pieces of the planet’s crust that move, break apart and smash into each other, forming such features as mountains, canyons and volcanoes — and experiences earthquakes, according to a new study of satellite data by a geologist at the University of California Los Angeles.

Even more earth-shattering (or, more accurately, Mars-shattering) is UCLA geology professor An Yin’s assertion that the existence of plate tectonics on the Red Planet increase the chances that it had conditions capable of supporting life at some point in its history.